Some Kind Of Intuition
by PreciousJax
Summary: Four years after Max suddenly left Seattle, and Logan behind, Logan accidently finds out where she is and goes to pay her a little visit. When he arrives in the tiny Maryland town, he finds out the startling reason Max really left Seattle. *Complete*
1. And She's Gone

A/N: Nothing new added. I just reformatted everything to make it easier to read. If you've read this, then go read its sequel, Forever Young. If you haven't, READ ME NOW!!  
  
  
  
Some Kind of Intuition  
  
By Jacquelyn Arnold  
  
Chapter One - March 6, 2020  
  
Logan's hands gripped the wheels of the wheelchair as he cruised down the sidewalk of Kingston Street on the way to Max's apartment. He hadn't heard from her in well over a week. Eight days, eleven hours, and roughly twenty-six minutes to be exact. But who was counting? Regardless, he was now officially worried about Max. His pages had gone unanswered, she hadn't been into work all week, and whenever she called her apartment, Cindy said she was sick and couldn't come to the phone.  
  
He certainly believed the sick part. The last time he'd seen her, he clearly recalled her being pale and slightly shaky. She'd barely touched the grilled chicken Caesar salad that he'd made and was uncharacteristically quiet as she stirred her food around lifelessly.  
  
At the time, Logan had planned to ask Max to do some very basic legwork, but after seeing the way she grabbed the edge of the table, swaying unsteadily as she stood from her chair, he instantly changed his plan and drug her into the guest bedroom, where she collapsed onto the bed with out the slightest fight. She'd fallen almost instantly a sleep as Logan had pulled a blanket over her curled form.  
  
When he'd woken up the next morning, the only evidence that she had been there was the unmade bed.  
  
So here Logan was, eight days, eleven hours, and thirty-one minuets later, knocking on Max's door with a bag containing a thermos of chicken noodle soup and crackers in his lap.  
  
Original Cindy opened the door a few minuets later, he hair pulled back in a blindingly pink bandanna. "Logan. What are you doing here?" She asked wearily, showing no signs of her trademark attitude.  
  
"Hey, Original Cindy." He said as rolled past her and into the apartment. He dropped the bag off food onto the counter and rolled towards Max's room. When he peeked inside and saw that the bed, and the rest of the room, was empty. He turned to Cindy, who was now sitting on the couch with her head in her hands. "Cindy, where's Max?" When she said nothing, he repeated himself with more intensity. "What happened? Where is she?"  
  
Cindy sat up meeting Logan's eye, her eyes shining with tears. Wordlessly, she rose to pick up a white envelope of the counter. "She told me to wait as long as I could to give this to you." Cindy said as she walked across the room to Logan. "I'm sorry." She said as she held out the envelope to him.  
  
Logan took the envelope and held it in his hand, staring at his name that had been scrawled across the front with a blue pen. He looked up apprehensively at Cindy who had resumed her spot on the couch.  
  
Logan flipped over the envelope, and gathering his courage, he slid a finger under the seal and pulled out a piece of folded white paper. Slowly unfolding it, Logan read, absorbing the words as his heart shattered.  
  
  
  
'Logan,  
  
As you've probably gathered, I've left Seattle. It was the best thing for me to do. Lydecker would have found me sooner or later, and I was a liability to you for my sake, and for yours, please don't come after me.  
  
--Max'  
  
  
  
The letter fell from Logan's numb fingers to flutter silently to the floor. Gripping the wheels with his hands, he pushed off, a wheel running over Max's note.  
  
Logan wheeled silently out of he door, Cindy staring after him, wishing she could tell him the real reason that Max had left. 


	2. Air Conditioning

Chapter Two - June 27, 2020  
  
Max sat in the townhouse she had recently rented. The air conditioner was on full as she battled the heat wave that had swept over the east coast, hitting the small town in Maryland that Max had selected as her new residence with everything it had  
  
Hampstead, Maryland. Middle of Nowhere, USA. And Max had found it absolutely charming, and more importantly, absolutely perfect. She didn't have to constantly look over her shoulder, but really, there wasn't anything to look over at.  
  
It had been close to four months since she had left Seattle and she had never once regretted her decision. Sure, she missed Original Cindy and her whacked out ghetto speak, and missed Kendra's obsession with 'banging the gong'. Those two had been the best friends she had ever had. Outside of Logan that is.  
  
Logan. Max thought as she turned in her chair so that the air from the vent was hitting her directly in the face. Logan was the one person that she regretted leaving behind. His eyes, his cooking, his convictions, his eyes, his taste in wine, his eyes, everything about him. Did she mention his eyes?  
  
Max shook her head, as if trying to clear the thoughts from her head, as she stood to shuffle across the room. Leaning out the front door, she grabbed the mail out of the small box next to the door.  
  
When she saw her named scribbled across a bight pink envelope in thick purple letters, she squealed in delight. She sat down at the table, ripping open the envelope and puling out the colorful stationary.  
  
She sat down at the kitchen table, rubbing her swollen stomach idly as she read Original Cindy's letter updating her on the trials and tribulations of Seattle. 


	3. Unknown

Chapter Three - September 17, 2024  
  
Logan jogged up the last flight of stairs to Cindy's apartment, taking the stairs two at a time. He wasn't particularly late, nor was there any real reason for him to be running, but he was, just for the simple joy that he could. He grinned boyishly as he jumped up the steps, on his way to help Cindy move into her new apartment.  
  
He reached the door, pleasantly out of breath from his eight flight climb. Cindy and Logan had remained in contact, to say the least, after Max had disappeared. Cindy had tracked down Logan to his penthouse two days after he'd gotten the note from Max. She'd found him stubbornly drunk, staring out the picture window, reeking off a three-day bender.  
  
Cindy had unmercifully dumped Logan in a cold shower, then held his head as he'd lost about two bottles of Jack Daniels, then listened to him as he sobbed over losing Max.  
  
Cindy pulled open the door; a cordless phone perched on her ear as she gestured for Logan to come in. "Yes mom. Yes, I am eating just fine." She said, rolling her eyes dramatically at Logan. She walked into the other room to the box she was unpacking.  
  
Logan watched bemusedly as she assured her mother that she was not wasting away into nothing.  
  
Logan walked over to a stack of boxes that Cindy had half unpacked and were stacked in piles next to the door. He accidentally kicked a basket of papers over. He crouched down to pick up the papers, but his hand froze as his fingers brushed over the corner return address of an envelope.  
  
  
  
'M. Guevara  
  
357 Hillcrest St.  
  
Hampstead, MD. 21102'  
  
  
  
Cindy walked back into the room a moment later. "Sorry 'bout that. My mom thinks that since I don't." Her words trailed off as she saw what Logan was holding.  
  
"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, his voice betrayed his feelings of hurt.  
  
"Logan, I..She."  
  
"How long have you known?" When she didn't look up from the floor she was staring at, Logan laughed mirthlessly. "That long, huh?"  
  
"Logan, I am really sorry."  
  
"Yea, so am I." Logan said as he dropped the envelope back into the pile of papers and walked out the door. While he was jogging down the stairs again, he pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number. "Hello. I need to book your next flight to Baltimore."  
  
Cindy stared at the closed door for a moment before she picked up the envelope from where Logan had dropped it. Opening the back flap, he pulled out the trio of pictures that Max had included in her last letter.  
  
He'd reacted badly enough when he'd seen her return address, but if he would have had heart failure on the spot if he'd seen the pictures of a glowing Max with a toe-headed, blue eyed girl who was Logan's splitting image sitting on her lap she the tiny child blew out four candles on a brightly colored birthday cake. 


	4. Unwanted Reunion

Chapter Four - September 18, 2024  
  
Max pulled up in front of her town house, sighing as she climbed out of her car. Rolling her neck, she reached behind the seat and grabbed her oversized bag. Straightening her short black skirt and long white dress shirt and denim jacket, she dug around inside and pulled out a set of keys. Locking the car doors, she turned and walked around the front of her car.  
  
Logan sat in his rental car across the street, staring at Max as she teetered up the stairs in her high heels. She slid the key fluidly into the lock, sliding inside and shutting the door quickly behind her.  
  
Logan gripped the steering wheel, as if holding himself together, his breath caught in his throat after seeing Max. It didn't matter that he hadn't seen her in well over four years. She still took his breath away.  
  
Logan considered his options. He could, one, leave now, go home, live his life like he had been for the past four years, without Max.  
  
Or, he could go up there, completely disregard her wish not to see him, risk getting his ass kicked, risk getting completely rejected, risk finding out that she had some boyfriend in the house with her, risk finding out she was ten times happier with out him.  
  
There was only one answer to Logan's question. Drive away now, or risk everything.  
  
Then why in the hell was he getting out of the car? It's not to late to turn around, he thought as he locked the car doors.  
  
Why in the hell was he walking up the stairs? 'What are you doing?' he questioned himself, even as he rang the doorbell. 'I can still run now. I can run real fast and not turn back.' He thought as he heard the chimes echo from inside.  
  
But it was already to late, as Logan found his legs, once again, paralyzed.  
  
"It's open!" He heard the shout from the inside. Something wasn't quite right about just walking in for this situation.  
  
Max was digging around in the fridge, searching for the left over Chinese food she knew she had left in their last night. She was knocking one of Maddy's juice cups out of the way when she heard the door open.  
  
Logan glanced down the dark hallway, only being illuminated by a dim lamp, seeing Max bent over behind the open fridge door, one leg bent as she poked around inside.  
  
Max finally spotted the white cardboard container, then she grabbed it as she straightened, speaking as she stood. "Hey Caro--". She jumped back startled, dropping the container of brown rice to fall to the hardwood floor when she saw Logan standing in shadows of her front hallway. Her mouth hung open, her eyes dilated, and for a moment, Logan feared she was going to pass out. Finally, she snapped back into focus. "What are you doing here?" She asked, the frantically added. "You have to go, you need to go *now*." She said as she walked forward, her heeled boots clicking on the wood floor as she strode forward to shove Logan towards the door.  
  
"Max, wait--" Logan was practically knocked off his feet as Max grabbed the sleeve of his jacket and drug him towards the door. "You have to go."  
  
"Max, stop." Logan said as he pulled his arm out of his grasp and grabbed hers as she tried to open the door. "Max, I am just here to talk."  
  
"Please, Logan, please you have to leave." Logan saw her hands shaking at her sides as she pleaded.  
  
Logan was just about to protest when he heard the back door open and the pound of feet on the floor. "Mommy!!" Both Max and Logan's heads whipped around as a toddler with huge blue eyes ran into the hallway, her long blonde curls trailing behind her and a striking black woman followed behind.  
  
Logan's whirled back to Max who moved to catch the little girl as she launched herself into Max's arms. The blood drained from Logan's face as the child turned her face towards him and he saw a face that was almost identical to his own. 


	5. Unexpected Surprise

A/N: Thank you guys so much for all of the reviews. This is the chapter out of the whole story that I am most proud of, I like writing mean nasty bitter Logan. Great fun for me, and I hope you guys enjoy reading it.  
  
Chapter Five   
Logan stared dumfounded as Max swung the tiny girl up onto her right hip, smiling. "Hey Maddy Boo." Max said playfully. "Did you grow since I last saw you, baby doll?"   
  
"No, Mommy!" The toddler said giggling. "It was just since breakfast."  
  
"Well your huge! I can barely carry you, Maddy! You need to stop growing!" Maddy giggled again and laid her head on Max's shoulder. When she spotted Logan standing nearby staring at her, she turned back to Max. "Mommy, who is that?" She said in a mock whisper.   
  
"Uh, that is a…friend of mine. Say hi to Logan." Max said carefully, avoiding eye contact with him.   
  
"Hello." She said soberly, blinking her big blue eyes at Logan.   
  
Logan stared, unable to speak.   
  
"Are you hungry, Maddy-boo?" Max asked desperately. "You want to eat something with Mommy?"  
  
"Do we have any apple juice?" Maddy asked hopefully.  
  
"Why yes we do." Max said as she turned and walked into the kitchen.   
  
Logan continued to stare, shocked thoroughly. The black woman who had followed Madelyn in watched him for a moment.   
  
So this was Maddy's father, the one that Max refused to talk about. Well, then, now she knew where the child got her hauntingly blue eyes. She finally took pity on the man and stepped forward and offered a hand. "Hi, I am Caroline Brant, I live next door. And you would be?"  
  
"Logan Cale." He said in a far away voice, watching as Max pulled a cup of apple juice out of the fridge, listening to Maddy as she related the story about seeing a pretty kitty-cat when she went to the park that afternoon. "What is her name?" Logan asked distantly. Caroline resisted the urge to smack Logan. He was obviously Maddy's father, never seen her before, and didn't even known the girls name. "Madelyn Elizabeth Guevara." She said, stressing Max's last name. With that, she flipped her hair over her shoulder and stalked into the kitchen, leaving Logan to stare blankly at the child.   
  
Caroline walked over to Max who was digging in the freezer for something to make for dinner. Dropping Maddy's bag onto the counter, Caroline spoke under her breath. "Girl, you and I need to have a little chat about the man in your hallway."  
  
Max whispered back as she pulled a package of frozen chicken out of the freezer. "I know. Do you mind distracting Madelyn while I figure out how my entire life got shot to hell in the last ten minuets." She muttered fiercely as Maddy continued to chatter, if to no one but herself.   
  
"Hey Maddy. Why don't you go show Miss Caroline the new bear that Aunt Jace sent you?" Max asked. Caroline helped Maddy off the counter, and the child ran off, pausing near Logan with a curious glance, and then clambering up the stairs.   
  
Logan stared blankly after the child, watching as she rounded the corner at the top of the banister. Logan then turned back to Max who was leaning against the counter with her elbows, her head in her hands. "Why didn't--"  
  
"Stop." Max cut him off. "We are not having this conversation when my daughter is in the next room." She continued as she stalked across the room and grabbed her denim jacket off the back of a chair. "You want to talk, we do it outside." With that she wrenched open the back door and walked out into the dusky night.   
  
Logan looked over his shoulder, hearing the sound of childish giggling floating down the stairs. Running a hand over his face, he followed Max outside.   
  
Crossing the wooden deck, he spotted Max at the edge of her small backyard, pacing back and forth with jerky movements. Logan sank down on the edge of the deck to sit weakly on the top step.   
  
When Max heard him approach, she whirled around. "What the hell are you doing--"  
  
"Do you think you have any right to question me?" Logan interjected. "Do you think you have any right at all. How about I ask you a question. Why the hell didn't you tell me I had a daughter?" His voice started to rise as he spoke.  
  
"Please, keep your voice down. I don't want Maddy to hear."  
  
"Fine." Logan continued in a harsh voice. "Did you know before you left Seattle?" Logan laughed sarcastically. "Or was that why you left? You knew before you left didn't you?"  
  
Max leaned back, crossing her arms, confirming his suspicions. "Why didn't you tell me? Did you think I didn't have a right to know? Or is it standard military operation--"  
  
"What did you want me to do Logan?" Max snapped. "Should I have casually mentioned in passing while we were eating dinner that night 'Oh by the way, remember that time a couple of months ago when you were drunk and I was in heat and we accidentally slept together, well oppsie, I'm pregnant." Max through an arm up in the air exasperated.   
  
"Well, that would have been a lot better than not telling me at all and just disappearing!" Logan shouted back.   
  
"I did what was best for me, for my child."  
  
"So, what am I supposed to thank you for running away with my child?"  
  
"No, not your child Logan, my child. I raised her on my own, and you have no claim to her."  
  
"And whose fault was that, Max?" Logan asked jumping to his feet. "Don't turn this into a 'I'm a single mother' sob stories. You raising her on your own is no one's fault but your own."  
  
"Fault? I am perfectly happy this way! I don't need your help, we're doing just fine on our own, thanks for asking."  
  
"Oh don't pull this shit Max! You blatantly lied to me, to your friends, to everyone. You left so you didn't have to deal with the consequences of your actions."  
  
"My actions? You were their too if I remember correctly."  
  
"Yeah I was, so don't you think I had a right to know that you were pregnant?"  
  
"You're talking about her like I did something wrong. Don't talk about Maddy as if she was a mistake. She is the best thing that has ever happened in my life, and I'm not going to let you say otherwise."  
  
"I am not saying she is a mistake, but you had no right to not tell me, no right whatsoever."  
  
"Don't you think I know that?! I had to live with the fact that I left the only man I ever trusted completely behind, but you know what really topped everything off? I get to see Madelyn every day and see you; I look into her eyes and see you. Don't you think that is hard enough?"  
  
"Do you think that makes up for anything?"  
  
"What do you want me to say Logan? You obviously aren't going to understand that what I did was best, whether you agree or not."  
  
"Why is you lying to me best?"  
  
"Think about it Logan. One, Lydecker knew I was still in Seattle. Staying there on my own was risk enough, not less having to think about my unborn child. Second, I would have told you, and I know perfectly well how you would have reacted. First, you'd haul me off to some doctor, I'd get poked and prodded, and then Lydecker would probably have found out. Plus, your old fashioned, you would have dome something stupid like proposed marriage to me, a forced proposal that I would have probably kidded myself into thinking was real, then we would have ended up hating each other for it." Max trailed off, anger spent. "I wasn't going to raise my child like that." She finished.   
  
"Let's take them one by one. Lydecker hadn't found you in the what, two years you'd been in Seattle. There were plenty of doctors that I knew that could be trusted. And I wouldn't have proposed anything without meaning it."  
  
They both lapsed into silence. "Look, Logan, I am sorry if I hurt you. But I did do what was best, and I'd do the exact same thing again. I have to go put Maddy to bed, why don't you come back tomorrow, and we'll talk this out, ok?"  
  
"Are you kidding me, Max? I am not leaving your side for a moment. If I would leave now, you'd have your sh** packed and be gone in a matter of minutes." He laughed mirthlessly. "I am not stupid Max, I know you all to well."  
  
Max didn't reply, because he was exactly right. Logan stared at her for a moment, then turned and walked back into the house. Max sank to the ground and pulled her legs to her chest and laid her head on her knees.   
  
A few minutes later, Caroline walked out onto the back porch. "Max, are you ok?"  
  
"I think so." She said quietly.   
  
"That's Madelyn's father isn't it?"  
  
"Can't you just look at him and her?" Max asked, choking back tears.   
  
"Did he know that you were pregnant when you left."  
  
"No."  
  
"Well, what happened?"   
  
"I think he is going to try and take my baby away from me." Max said, finally giving into her tears.   



	6. Unsleepy

A/N: I thought I would address some people's concerns that I have gotten in some of the reviews. People have been telling me that Logan would never take Maddy away from Max, and I completly agree. *Max* thinks this, but Logan has never said or acted like that in anyway. Just thought I'd clear that up.  
  
  
  
Chapter Six  
When Max walked into the kitchen a few minuets later, drying her face with her sleeve, the phone was ringing. She grabbed the cordless as she went to check on Maddy, who Caroline had left playing in her room. "Hello?" She asked, trying to control her shaking voice.   
"Boo? It's Original Cindy."  
"Oh, hey." Max said, smiling softly.  
"Look, I wanted to warn you in advance, Logan saw the letter you sent me, but he didn't see pictures of mini-boo. Anyways, he knows where you are. I tried calling him and I only got his machine, so I assume he must be coming out there."  
Max laughed softly as she climbed the steps. "It's a bit late for that."  
"What? He's there?"  
"Yeah, showed up this afternoon right after I got home from work."  
"Shit. Was Maddy there?"  
"Caro brought her home while I was trying to shove him out the front door."  
"How'd he take it?" Max didn't answer Cindy's inquiry as she got to the top of the stairs and found Logan standing outside of Madelyn's door, watching her as she stacked wooded blocks on top of each other, chattering to herself. "Cindy, I'll call you back tomorrow." She murmured as she clicked off the phone.   
She studied Logan a moment, the way he stared at Madelyn, shock in his gaze, but at the same time, looking mesmerized by the site of the child he didn't know till less than an hour ago, he didn't know he had.   
Max stepped up to him and tapped his shoulder with the antenna of the phone. She gestured him over a few steps away from the doorway. "Listen, I am trying to be reasonable about this, but please, she doesn't know who you are, and if you stand there staring at her, you're going to freak her out."  
"I'm not leaving Max. Don't even try and make me." Logan said in an undertone.   
Sighing, Max glanced over Logan's shoulder at Maddy. "Where are you going to sleep, since you aren't leaving?"  
"Your bed." Logan said simply.  
"Excuse me?" Max said, raising a brow.  
"First off, you don't sleep. Second, you cheated me out of four years of my daughter's life. You don't want to mess with me here." Logan said in a no-nonsense tone that Max didn't have a sarcastic reply for. Muttering under her breath, she stalked past Logan and into Maddy's room. Logan followed her to stare at them from the doorway again.   
"Come on, baby doll, time for bed."  
Maddy looked up, blinking owlishly. "Mommy, I am almost done building my castle."  
"Your castle, huh? Well, Princess Madelyn Elizabeth, your imperial palace will still be here in the morning, and you can finish it then."  
"Mommy." Maddy said, crossing her arms. "Princess Madelyn is not ready for bed."   
"This is the last time I am letting you talk to Aunt Cindy. I swear, she is making you talk in the third person too!"  
"Mommy, please, five more minuets."  
"Well, you know, I was thinking." Max said, sitting down on the floor next to Maddy. "Since tomorrow is Saturday…"  
"Cascade Lake! Are we going to the lake?" Maddy screeched.   
"Only if some little princess goes to bed." Max replied easily, brushing a stray curl off of Maddy's face. "Go brush your teeth." Maddy jumped up and ran out of the room, and past Logan.  
"Is she always this…energetic?" Logan asked while Max began to replace various stuffed animals and toys back to their places.   
"Only way to get her to go to bed is bribery." Max said softly, not meeting Logan's eye as she walked over to Maddy's bed and pulled back the bright blue blanket. Before they could speak further, Maddy jumped, literally, back into the room wearing an oversized tee shirt in lieu of a nightgown.   
When Maddy climbed into bed, Max sat next to the bed and talked to her for a few minutes.   
"Ok, good night Princess Madelyn. I love you." Max said as she tucked the blankets around Maddy.  
"Goodnight Princess Mommy. I love you too." Maddy said as she squirmed around to un-tuck all the blankets, as was tradition.   
"Stay in bed too, you scared me to death last night when I went to check on you and you weren't in bed.  
Maddy giggled the evil laugh of a child. Max leaned down and kissed her forehead before she walked over to the door where Logan still stood. Giving him an evil look, she flipped off the light switch. "Night Maddy."  
When the door clicked firmly shut, Max walked across the hallway, without giving Logan a second glance. Shutting the door, she leaned against the wall to try and catch her breath. This was all too much to handle.   
Walking over to a bureau, she pulled out a few articles of clothing and then grabbed a spare blanket and pillow off her bed. She stepped out of the room a few minuets later to see Logan in the same position she'd left him in a few minuets earlier, leaning against the wall much like she had been. "All yours. Don't do anything weird in my bed." She said before brushing past him to walk downstairs.   
  



	7. Lucky Charms

Chapter Seven  
Logan awoke the next morning, groggy and disoriented, as he stared at the ceiling and for a moment, not remembering where he was. Then it all came rushing back to him in a flood of images.   
Yesterday at this time, he'd been in Seattle, a single, unattached man of thirty-five with a handful of close friends being his only tie.  
Now today, twenty four hours later, he was in a tiny town in Maryland, sleeping in the bed of someone he hadn't seen in well over four years, a father of a four year old girl that before last night he'd never even known about, not less seen.   
Its funny how some things turn out.   
Logan didn't even know why he'd come out here to begin with. He'd moved on, past Max, a long time ago, but yet the simple mention of her name, and he'd jumped on a plane. And it was because of that simple action, he now had a daughter.  
Logan had no idea how to feel about this. He had a daughter. He. Had. A. Daughter. Max had kept even the knowledge of his daughter from him, and that simple fact alone, that Max had run from him, was so overwhelming that his mind went blank whenever he tried to think of what possible reason Max felt she had to run.   
And to be honest, Logan doubted what kind of mother a genetically enhanced killing machine was capable of being.   
It was then that Logan rolled over to check the clock on the nightstand when he saw the picture inside a heavy copper frame. It was Madelyn sitting in a sea of wrapping paper, obviously taken last Christmas. She had her arms thrown up over her head as she threw balls of paper up, her mouth wide open as she grinned like a loon.   
Logan's chest constricted as he studied the picture. Max had cheated him out of seeing his child's first birthday, her first Christmas, her first words, her first steps. He hadn't gotten to watch her grow up, and that could never be made up for.  
Logan rolled out of Max's bed and walked to the door, pulling it open, then jumping back as he found himself almost walking into Maddy as she stepped out of her room.   
Logan had the sudden urge to shut the door and not face Maddy, but it was to late as she turned to blink her eyes at him, staring at him silently.  
"Uh," Logan managed. "Hi."  
"Hello." Maddy replied, and then added curiously. "What's your name again?"  
"Umm, I am Logan." He replies, uncomfortable as all of hell.  
Maddy reached one of her small hands up as if to shake Logan's hand. "I'm Madelyn. You can call me Maddy if you want." Logan shook Maddy's hand.  
"Ok, Maddy." Logan said, saying his daughter's name out loud for the first time. "Well, what are you up too?"  
"I'm going to go find my Mom and talk her into making me breakfast."  
"Talk her into it? She doesn't like to make you breakfast?" Logan asked, trying to find fault with Max's ability to raise their child. Their child, Logan thought as a shiver ran down his spine.   
"No, it is like a game."  
"What do you mean, a game?"  
"Like Candy Land." Maddy said matter-of-factly as if that explained everything as she turned and walked to the top of the stairs and grabbing the railing, stomped her way down, one step at a time.  
Logan followed her downstairs and into the living room, where he was quite surprised to find Max dead asleep on the couch, curled up under a blanket.   
Maddy walked back over to Logan in an exaggerated tiptoe. "Shhhhh!" She said holding a finger to her lips and talking in a loud stage whisper. "Mommy's sleeping." Then hopped past Logan into the kitchen.   
"Do you want me to make you breakfast?" Logan offered as Maddy drug a chair across the room to climb up on the counter.   
"No thank you, Mr. Logan." Maddy said in a singsong voice.   
"Uh, you can just call me Logan, you know."  
"Ok, Mr. Logan." She repeated as she reached up into the cupboard for something.  
"What are you trying to get, Maddy?" Logan asked as Maddy knocked some stuff around and out of the cupboard, making a mess.   
Suddenly, Maddy pulled a bright red box out and dropped it onto the counter as she clambered down onto the floor. "Lucky Charms!!" She screeched as she opened the dishwasher and pulled out a bowl. "Do you want some, Mr. Logan?"  
Logan scratched his head baffled as Maddy skillfully pulled out two bowls and dumped cereal into them, actually getting about three fourths of it in the bowl. "Uh, ok."  
When Maddy struggled dragging a gallon of milk out of the fridge, Logan bolted over. "How about I do that." He said, narrowly missing disaster.   
Maddy made a clicking sound with her tongue as she hopped down off the counter and skipped merrily over to the table to sit on her booster chair. Logan carried the two bowls of cereal over, sitting one in front of Madelyn as she spun her spoon around on the table. "Here you go."  
Maddy cocked her head to the side in a way that had Logan thinking of candlelight dinners with Max in his penthouse. Maddy dropped her spoon into her cereal as she reached up and petted Logan's stubble. "Your fuzzy." She said simply before turning back to her cereal.   
Logan laughed, genuinely amused by Maddy. It was in that few minuets that he listened to her talk to her marshmallows that her realized, that seeing his child was all it took for him to absolutely adore her.   



	8. Pretty Kitty

Chapter Eight  
Max stood to the side of the entrance to the kitchen, covertly watching the scene in front of her.   
"I like kitties." Maddy was explaining as she slurped cereal off her spoon. "They're really pretty."  
Logan stirred his cereal around, much to Max's amusement, because Logan never did seem like the cereal kind of guy, and laughed at Maddy as she started to say "Pretty Kitty" repeatedly picking marshmallows out of her bowl with her fingers.   
"So, you like pretty kitty's? How about not so pretty ones?" Max heard Logan's low voice reply playfully.  
Maddy stilled, staring at Logan, narrowing her eyes. "There is NO such thing as a not so pretty kitty."  
"But what if there was."  
"There's not." Maddy repeated, turning back to her cereal in a way that clearly stated.  
"Don't bother fighting with her, Logan." Max said as she stepped into the room, two blonde heads turned to look at her as she crossed to run a hand absently over Maddy's head. "She is just as stubborn as her par-…. mother is."   
Max winced, praying Logan didn't notice her slip in almost saying 'parents', but when he narrowed his eyes at her, she pretty much knew he did.   
Max's attention was pulled back to Maddy as she turned around in her chair, grinning winningly at Max. "Good-morning-Mommy-I-made-breakfast-when-are-we-going-to-the-lake?" She said in a rush, her words blending together in their speed of delivery.   
Max grinned as she dropped a kiss on the top of her head. "Hello-baby-yes-I-see-you-made-breakfast-we'll-go-to-the-lake-in-a-while." She said equally quickly. "Now, eat your cereal." She said as she walked to the counter and turned the auto timer off the coffee pot. Walking over to the counter to pull a coffee mug out of the cupboard, Max found herself faced with a counter covered with cereal. Glancing back at Maddy, she rolled her eyes and smiled. Obviously, when she said she had made breakfast, she meant so in the most literal sense.  
Logan became quiet when Max had come into the room, her eyes lids drooping with recent sleep, her hair tousled. She grabbed her mug of coffee, a bagel out of a bag in the fridge, a knife, and a small container of cream cheese, and then sat at the table across from Maddy, talking animatedly with the squirming child as she did her best to block out Logan.   
When Maddy hopped out of her chair to run off and watch Saturday morning cartoons, she left Max and Logan to sit at the table in uncomfortable silence each staring at their own food. Finally, Logan broke the silence. "As much as I'd hate to admit this." He said under his breath so only Max could hear. "You did a good job on her. She's great."  
"I don't deserve credit for that. She's amazing." Max said smiling with a far away look in her eyes.   
"Yeah, she is." Logan agreed.  
Max snapped back into focus, blinking at Logan. "Listen Logan. Obviously you're not leaving--"  
"Max, you know, it was a while ago, but you knew me once. And I would guess that I am still basically the same guy. Do you really think after finding out I have a daughter that I'd just pack up and leave like nothing happened?"  
"No, that's not what--"  
"So long as that is understood. I'm going to be here for a while. Better face it now."  
"Logan, are you--"  
"Am I what? Going to let you talk." Logan cocked his head to the side as if thinking. "Probably not."  
Max gritted her teeth. "So how is this supposed to work?"  
"Well, you know, I haven't exactly been in this situation before, so I am making this up as I go. But we'll start with this. What's this rumor I hear about a lake?"  



	9. Pretty...Pretty Wet

A/N: I decided to write this first part in first person because I was having trouble expressing a four year old's thoughts in the third person, but you'll know when I went back to the third. This is why it took me so long to write, because I just couldn't get this part down.   
  
Chapter Nine  
I was sitting in the sand, carefully filling my yellow bucket with sand as I watched Mommy. She was a few feet away sitting on a white blanket, sunglasses perched on her nose. Even though I couldn't see her eyes because of the dark lenses, I knew she was watching me. I have to be real fast when I want to sneak a cookie before dinner, because Mommy is always watching.   
Mommy is really pretty. But I don't look like her. She has brown hair, but mine is yellow. She says I look like an angel. I think she does too. But Mommy looks really pretty today, sitting with her legs pulled up to her chest and her feet buried in the sand.   
I like Logan. He is really nice and fuzzy. Logan is helping me build a sand castle. Since I met him, he's always been watching me too, a lot like Mommy, but different too.   
Isn't Mommy pretty?   
  
Logan watched amused as Maddy suddenly hopped up and ran to jump on a startled Max. "Mommy! You're pretty."  
"So are you baby doll." Max said calmly, sitting back to adjust her balance to the added weight of her daughter. Maddy pulled off Max's sunglasses and sat them on her own face, the lenses falling almost off her nose.  
"Can I go look off the pier? Please?" Maddy begged, kissing Max's cheek in an effective move of sucking up.  
"Do you promise to stay in the middle and not go to close to the edge without me there with you?"  
Instead of agreeing, Maddy ran off squealing, kicking up sand behind her as she passed Logan. "I'm going on the pier." She yelled at him as she ran by, Max's sunglasses falling off.  
Max watched Logan as he smiled at Maddy as she ran past him. She'd carefully observed the two together as Logan helped Maddy build a beautiful castle, then as he'd laughed when she jumped on it, smashing it under her feet. Max watched as Logan and Maddy talked about whatever a four year old wanted to talk about, and as Logan had ruffled her hair with one hand affectionately.   
Logan walked over to flop on the blanket next to Max, tossing her the sunglasses Maddy had dropped to Max. "Well, I can honestly say, Max," he said conversationally. "She must have gotten the Manticore patented energy supply. She is a handful." Logan said closing his eyes in mock defeat.  
This was more than Logan had said to her all morning, in the non-hostile sense that is. "Yeah." Max said lightly, watching Maddy carefully as she peered into the water from the middle of the pier. "She never does slow down. Maddy has all of two functions. Stop and go."  
"She seems well behaved if anything else."  
"Mad's such a great kid. Made my job so easy."  
"Well you did a good job on her."  
"Wow, Logan." Max said mockingly, turning to look at him. "Was that a compliment?"  
Logan frowned, as if in thought. "No, just a simple observation."  
Max laughed, turning back. In the seconds it took for her to look at Logan, Maddy had moved to the edge of the pier. "Maddy!" Max shouted, cupping her hands around her mouth. "You're to close to the--" Her words choked on a startled gasp as she saw the large dog barreling down the pier. Both Max and Logan jumped to their feet as the dog ran directing into Maddy, knocking Maddy into the water.   
Logan and Max reached the pier at the same time, but Logan shoved Max aside as he dropped his glasses onto the deck and jumped into the water.   
It seemed like an eternity that Max stood on the edge of the pier before Logan resurfaced with a wailing Maddy in his arms. Max jumped forward, grabbing Maddy out of Logan's arms as he held her up to her. Logan then pushed himself onto the pier, rolling onto his back as Max sank to the ground, clutching Maddy to her, tears streaming down her face.   
After a few moments, Maddy quieted, but Max continued to rock back and forth, holding on to her daughter for dear life. "Mommy?" Maddy whispered.  
"Yeah?" Max replied, her voice still shaking.   
"I think I got to close to the edge."  
Max laughed weakly.   
"Are you ok, Maddy?" Logan asked, finally making his presence aware to Max.   
They looked over to where Logan sat, next to them, completely soaked and completely unnerved.   
After several moments of convincing, both Logan and Max finally took Maddy's words of reassurance that she was fine. After a few more moments, Max relinquished her death grip to let Maddy go play in the sand again, as if nothing had happened.   
"I never did ask," Max said as she pulled her knees up to her chest and continued to rock back and forth slightly. "Are you alright?"  
"I'm fine." Logan said, reaching for his glasses. "Jesus Christ, that took about seven years of my life off."  
"It's all my fault." Max whispered after a moment of silence. "I wasn't paying attention, I should have gone out with her. What the hell was I thinking?" Max said to her self.   
Logan stared at her while she berated herself. "Max." He interrupted. "She's four. All four year olds do nothing but get in trouble." When Max continued to stare blankly ahead, Logan continued to talk, trying to get Max to come out of whatever world she had gone into. "I remember when I was four I played dodge ball with my cousin in the kitchen with two dozen eggs. I thought my mom was going to have heart failure."  
Max glanced over at him. "What?"  
"Nothing. Look, Maddy's fine, don't worry about it to much."  
Max gained her feet, and then offered Logan a hand to pull him up. "Look, I think we've all had enough excitement for the day. Let's go home."  
Both Max and Logan stood where they were for a moment, looking at each other, then looking at the hands they still had clenched together.  
Suddenly they both pulled back as if they had been burned. Wordlessly, not even acknowledging what had just happened, they walked off to gather their belongings and go back to Max's house.  
Old habits die-hard.  
  



	10. Be Right Back

Chapter Ten  
Late that night, around ten o'clock, both Max and Logan sat exhausted on the couch. Max was leaning back, her arms thrown haphazardly over her eyes. Logan was leaning over to rest his forehead on the arm of the couch. Maddy was curled up on the couch between them, her head resting in Max's lap as she blinked back from sleep.   
"When you said she was a handful." Logan finally managed. "That was a big understatement."  
"No kidding."   
After they had returned from Cascade Lake, with a small detour to a small pizza parlor to pick up a pepperoni pizza. "With Extra Cheese!" Maddy had shouted from the back seat as Max had gotten out of the car, leaving Logan and Maddy alone. After they had gotten home, Logan watched amazed as Maddy ate almost half the extra large pizza on her own. She was a tiny little girl, but she ate six pieces of pizza and then had energy enough to run both Max and Logan all over the house as she forced them to play hide and seek.   
Now, several hours later, Maddy had finally wound down enough to curl up on the couch with her exhausted parents. "Maddy," Max said, finally sitting up enough to pull Maddy into her lap. "Come on, time for bed."  
"I'm not tired." Maddy said automatically even as she struggled to keep her eyes only.  
"I know baby." Max murmured as she stood with Maddy in her arms, moving towards the stairs.   
"Few more minuets…" Maddy's voice was quickly trailing off.  
"Sorry baby, its almost eleven already. Say goodnight to Logan."  
Logan smiled softly at Max's direction to Maddy. That's some major progress, acknowledging his existence.   
"Goodnight Logan." Maddy said as she laid her cheek on Max's shoulder and wrapped her arms around her neck.   
"Goodnight Mad." Logan called back deliriously happy for no reason at all. It was nice being able to do this, say goodnight to his daughter.  
About ten minuets later, Max flopped back down on the couch. "For all my genetic enhancements, she isn't even bioengineer-ed and she has more energy than me."  
A thought popped into Logan's head, and he turned to Max. "Does she have any, like, after effects of you being an X5, like seizures or anything?"  
"At this point, no, she is relatively normal. She's really quick, really smart, and she never get tired." Then Max frowned. "Of course, I didn't start getting seizures till I was nine, so I guess there is always a chance of something."  
Logan pulled off his glasses and ran a hand over his face, then carefully asked. "Well, how are your seizures?"  
Max frowned, confused. Logan seemed, almost concerned about her. After everything, he was still concerned. "I'm fine. I have to take an injection every night, puts me to sleep, but other than that it works a lot better and a lot quicker than the pills I used to be on."  
The sat in silence for a couple of moments, each staring at spots on the wall. "Well, listen, I have to go back to Seattle tomorrow and take care of some stuff. I didn't think I'd be gone for more than two days, so I have to get Bling to take care of the informant net for a while."  
Max's face remained impassive as she listened. So he was here, and it was going to be like that for a while. Max didn't know why she expected any different from him. She'd seen the way he was with Maddy. He was completely natural with her, patient and affectionate with her. He was way to moral of a person to ignore the fact that he had a child, even if he'd just found out about her a day and a half ago. Max never figured him as the father type, in reality. She more or less figured she'd be getting a large check once a month. But here he was, making arrangements to spend time out here. The question was, was this going to be a permanent thing? Or was he just going to satisfyingly clear him self of guilt then be on his merry way?  
And what worried Max the most is she wasn't sure which one she wanted more.  
"So." Logan's voice snapped her back to the present. "Can I trust you enough that you'll still be here when I get back or are you going to try and run. Because I'll warn you know, I wont let you go nearly as easily as I did four years ago."  
Max smiled sardonically. She expected no less. "I'll still be here."   
  



	11. The Clan Cale

Chapter Eleven  
  
Logan tossed his keys on a table next to the front door of his penthouse as he walked in the door, dropping his bag with a muttered oath. He's just arrived home after a long, tiresome flight home.  
  
He walked across the room to drop unceremoniously on his couch, closing his eyes wearily. Now that he was away from everything, not matter how temporary it might be, he could finally take time to absorb everything that had happened in the past three days.  
  
He swore under his breath when he heard the knock at his door. He ignored it, not wanting to deal with other people. He just wanted to go to sleep, block it all out for a little while.  
  
"Logan, I know you're in there." Bling's voice echoed through the door. Logan rolled off the couch to let his friend in. Even after he'd stopped needing Bling as his PT, they'd remained good friends, often hanging out or playing basketball.  
  
"Hey Bling." Logan said wearily as he walked back over to couch to lie back down.  
  
"So your back from Maryland."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"Did it go like you expected?" Bling asked, knowing perfectly well it hadn't. Cindy was on her way now to give him a hand on properly fighting with Logan and all the bullheaded stubbornness that was sure to come.  
  
Logan snorted, but it wasn't exactly good-natured. "Not quite, Bling. Not even close."  
  
"So what happened?"  
  
"Well, turns out," Logan said, looking up at where Bling leaned against a wall. "Max has a daughter."  
  
Bling stood silent. When Original Cindy had called him to tell him that stuff was about to go down, she'd refused to tell him what about. When Logan next spoke, it was a shock to him even more than the last statement. "And, much to my surprise, so do I."  
  
"What? You.Max.What?" Bling stuttered.  
  
"Madelyn Elizabeth. Bling, three days ago, I was a single, unattached guy of thirty-five. Now, I am the father of the sweetest little girl who looks exactly like me. Welcome the next chapter in the unrelenting story of my life."  
  
Before Bling had time to react, Cindy opened the door without knocking. "Original Cindy is here, may the party begin."  
  
"Cindy, so glad you could make it." Logan said sitting up. "So you not telling me you knew where Max was, now that was bad enough. But why didn't you tell me I had a child."  
  
"Because Max asked me not to." Cindy stated simply.  
  
"Like she had any right to make a decision like that. Like you had any right to listen to her. I don't know if you guys noticed, but this does effect my life too."  
  
"What right did Max have? After the way you treated her, you're lucky she didn't let me follow through with my instinct of castrating you." Cindy said, her voice rising.  
  
"Excuse me? How did this turn into my fault? She's the one who ran away after she found out she was pregnant."  
  
"Hello! You were there too! You get a fair share of blame for Max running away placed on you."  
  
"How is this my fault?"  
  
"Logan, you slept with her, then you completely brushed her off."  
  
Logan stared at Cindy flabbergasted. "I was drunk. It was a mistake."  
  
"You were drunk? That is what you told yourself so you could sleep through the night. You weren't anymore drunk than she was in heat. Don't feed me that bullshit."  
  
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Logan snapped at Cindy. Bling finally made his presence known by speaking up.  
  
"It means, simply, that you fucked up."  
  
"Logan." Cindy spoke again, softer now. "You didn't get to see her when she found out she was pregnant. I was with her. She was so scared, hysterical basically, mainly because she didn't know what she was going to do, but another part of her was scared because she was in love with you and you had basically told her that sleeping with her had been a mistake."  
  
"But it was a mistake." Logan whispered, visibly paling.  
  
"I know how great Maddy is. I know how great Max is with her. Now that you've seen that, how can you stand there and still say it was a mistake?"  
  
Logan stared at the ground. "She should have told me. She should have told me." Logan repeated, his voice soft and far away.  
  
"No doubt. No doubt. But really, can you blame her. They didn't exactly have mommy training classes at Manticore now did they?"  
  
Logan dropped down onto the couch to lay his head in his hands. "I've missed four years of her life."  
  
Cindy and Bling stared at Logan sympathetically. "It sounds to me." Bling said, "That you have to chance to make it up to her now."  
  
"She doesn't even know I'm her father."  
  
About a half hour later, Bling and Cindy left Logan alone in his apartment.  
  
"Damn." Bling said simply.  
  
"Damn sounds about right. You should see the little boo. Looks just like him."  
  
"Do you think him and Max are going to work it out?" Bling asked as he stepped onto the elevator.  
  
"Think so?" Cindy asked as she punched the button for the ground floor. "If I know my Boo and if I know Logan, we'll just see if Maddy is the last in the Clan Cale." 


	12. Missing Years

Chapter Twelve  
  
The next night, Logan arrived back at Max's townhouse, again exhausted despite fourteen hours of sleep the night before. The flight back into Baltimore was tiring enough, but the rush hour traffic off of Baltimore's beltway and into northern western Maryland was full of frustration and several near accidents.  
  
So now he was walking up Max's front stairs, dragging two large duffle bags behind him, wanting to drop where he was. Max opened the door a few seconds after he knocked and stood aside to let him in. For one small second there, Logan thought he'd seen her smile, but in this state of walking sleep, he couldn't really be sure.  
  
"Hey Max." Logan said as he dropped his bags to the floor with a heavy thump. "I think I am about to fall asleep." He said in a far away voice.  
  
"The by all means." Max said as she gestured towards the stairs and her bedroom.  
  
"Nah, I'm fine. Where's Maddy?"  
  
"She's in watching a movie." When Logan turned to walk towards the television, Max tried to speak to him first. "Logan, wait, you should know I." She trailed off as Logan was already out of the room.  
  
"Hey Maddy." Logan called as he sat down on the couch behind where Maddy was coloring as she watched a cartoon on TV.  
  
"Hi Daddy."  
  
Logan was about to say something when Maddy's exact words infiltrated his consciousness. Maddy had just called him 'Daddy.'  
  
Max stood in the doorway and watched calmly as Logan whipped around in his seat o look at her. "Yeah," She said nonchalantly. "Mad and I had a talk while you were gone."  
  
Logan just stared dumbfounded at the back of Maddy's head as she giggled at the cartoon. 'She called me Daddy,' was the only thought that was running through his head, like a broken record.  
  
After a few moments, Max took pity on Logan. "Maddy, time for bed."  
  
"Mommy." Maddy said matter-of-factly in a very adult voice. "I do not feel that I have been properly prepared for bed, and I would like to request that I receive several, twenty to be exact, minuets extended onto my bedtime."  
  
Max rolled her eyes. "Caroline's been letting you watch Oprah reruns again. Nice try, kiddo. Bed. Now."  
  
A grumbling Maddy picked up her coloring book and responsibly turned off the TV. Walking by Logan, she climbed up onto the couch to give him a smacking kiss on the cheek before wiggling away from the flabbergasted Logan and marching upstairs, stomping on each stair.  
  
Max watched Logan for a moment; just to make sure he wasn't about to, like, fall over or anything, before walking off after Maddy to tuck her into bed.  
  
Logan sat staring forward in shocked silence. "She called me daddy." He whispered for himself. "She called me daddy."  
  
"Yeah, Logan, she did." He heard Max say from the doorway.  
  
"Max," Logan said turning in his chair to look at her. "She, Maddy, called me Daddy."  
  
"Yep."  
  
"I don't think I fully and completely understood until she called me Daddy."  
  
Max smiled, amused at Logan's musings, as she walked across the room to sit at the other end of the couch.  
  
"What made you tell her?" Logan asked quietly.  
  
Max shrugged. "She had a right to know, I guess." She paused for a moment. "I guess you also had a right for her to know."  
  
Logan took a moment to absorb this. He reached over and brushed a hand over Max's hand where it rested on the back of the couch. "Max, you have no idea how much it means to me, that you told her. And you not only told her, you told her on your own without me having to b**** at you about it."  
  
Max shrugged, but she was unnerved by Logan's touch, no matter how fleeting it was. "Right."  
  
They sat in silence for another moment, each staring at separate spots on the wall as they desperately avoided eye contact.  
  
"Well, you should know." Logan stated with a small smile. "Cindy and I had words. Hers loud; very, very loud."  
  
Max snorted. "I can imagine."  
  
"Well, I wont go through all of it, but basically, I just wanted you to know." Logan sighed. "That I have let go of being pissed at you for leaving."  
  
Max turned to look at Logan, raising a brow. "What brought that sudden about face on."  
  
"Just some of the things Cindy said, that of this was probably my fault too."  
  
"Obviously." Max said rolling her eyes.  
  
"Not what I was referring to." Logan said laughing softly. "What I meant was, you probably were running because of." Logan trailed off, flushing as he looked away.  
  
"Afterwards." Max finished.  
  
"God, is this déjà vu or what?" Logan said with a laugh.  
  
"If I remember correctly, I said something similar.afterwards."  
  
Max awoke with a start, jerking up in the unfamiliar bed. Disoriented, she waited a moment for hey eyes to adjust to the darkness. When she finally recognized that she was in Logan's room, and she was *not* wearing any clothes, and she was *not* alone in bed, Max let out a small terrified moan.  
  
The small sound awoke Logan, who though he didn't have his glasses on, knew exactly what Max was doing. He reached for his glasses and flipped on the bedside lamp. When he looked up, Max was scrambling out of bed, wrapping a sheet around her as she rushed around grabbing various articles of clothing where they had fallen on their path from the living room.  
  
Logan sat up in bed, his heart slowly breaking into lots of little tiny pieces. "Max?"  
  
Logan watched as she walked back in front of the doorway. "I was in heat." She blurted desperately, wishing the ground would open up and swallow her whole. 'Don't believe me. Don't believe me.' Max prayed as she pulled her shirt over her head.  
  
Logan's heart broke. She wasn't happy. She thinks it was a mistake. "Yeah, I know. And I had drank too much wine."  
  
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Max berated as she sat on the couch to pull on her pants.  
  
'Damn it, damn it, damn it.' Logan berated himself as he picked up his pants off the floor and pulled them on.  
  
"This was a huge mistake. I wasn't thinking." Logan said desperately trying to save what little friendship they might be able to salvage after this.this.best night of his life.  
  
When Max looked up at him, he could have sworn he saw something close to pain in her eyes. But it was gone in a flash as she agreed. "Absolutely. Neither of us were in any frame of mind to know what we were doing."  
  
"Exactly." Logan said as Max pulled on her shoes.  
  
"Right." Max said as she stood.  
  
"Absolutely." Logan repeated as Max searched for her jacket.  
  
"Yes. So long as that is understood." Max said, using the same words she had when she had brushed off the kiss they had shared outside Logan's cabin.  
  
"I'm glad we talked about it."  
  
They both stilled as they saw the irony in the situation, not matter how fleeting it was.  
  
"Déjà vu, huh?" Max said as she fled from the penthouse.  
  
  
  
Max and Logan each were in their own worlds as they thought back to that night over four years ago.  
  
"Max?" Logan asked tenativly.  
  
"Yeah?"  
  
"Would you tell me about what happened in the fours years I missed of Maddy's life?"  
  
Max smiled softly. "Sure." Max spoke, starting from the beginning, when she found out she was pregnant, and spoke, inserting little details here, little memories there. How scared she had been when Maddy had been born three weeks premature, the first time Max had brought her home. The first time Maddy had sat up on her own, how she had walked way earlier than she should have. "I guess she like her father in that sense." Max had said. "I used to take her on walks every day, and soon as she could walk, she refused to be wheeled around in her stroller, she only wanted to walk."  
  
Max continued on to talk about her first words, and how amused Max had been when it wasn't 'Mommy' or anything, but 'pizza'. Max spoke of all the little details she could remember from Maddy's life for hours, until she finally looked over to see Logan leaning on his arm, deeply asleep.  
  
Max sighed as she woke Logan up to push him towards the bedroom. As he'd climbed into bed, he said one thing to Max as she stood in the doorway. "Max?"  
  
"What Logan?"  
  
"I wish I could have been there."  
  
Max made a small sound in her throat as she flipped off the light. "So do I, Logan." She whispered into the dark. "So do I." 


	13. Epilogue

A/N: Ok, when I wrote this back in the day, (April) I had originally planned on taking this story a whole other way. Maddy was going to die in the first three or four chapters, and it was going to be Logan's fault, and Max was going to end up having a nervous breakdown and ending up institutionalized, and Logan was going to probably kill himself. It was supposed to be really dark and agnsty, but I fell in love with Maddy, and I am now toying with the idea of doing a sequel with her at 17 years old. If you are at all interested in reading something like that (It would be quite dark, since this one wasnt), please mention it in a review (hint hint). Anyways...the story took a mind of its own when I fell in love with Maddy's character, and by the time I got to the last chapter, I really wasnt into writing it anymore. So when I posted a message saying I didnt want to force myself into something I really didnt want to do, and end up ruining the story. I ended up whipping up this sugar coated happy ending when people started complaining about the abrupt ending, so I hope this makes all you shippers happy. End of the road, adios, leave a review if you hadnt already.  
  
  
Logan awoke with a start, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the dark. Glancing over at the bedside clock, he found it to be close to four AM. Sighing at the sound that had intruded his slumber, her rolled over and nudged Max.   
"Max." He whispered, nudging her again. "Max, Ben's crying."   
Max kicked him in the shin none to lightly before rolling over till her back was to him. "Go…to…hell." She muttered before pulling the blanket over her head.   
Logan smiled as he pulled back the blanket to whisper in Max's ear. "You owe me." He said before kissing her lightly on the neck. She muttered something unintelligible under her breath as Logan sat up in bed. Grabbing a tee shirt off the floor, he pulled it on as he glanced at the pictures on the nightstand. The old picture of just Maddy that used to be sitting there had long ago been replaced by a picture of Maddy wearing a white dress with a basket of flowers in her hand, and her face covered in white cake frosting.   
Logan stood and stretched his arms overhead looking out the bedroom window over the Seattle skyline, the lights of distant buildings lighting the night sky. They had moved back to Seattle shortly after Maddy's fifth birthday, and the child had adjusted quite well to the new city, enjoying the small private school she was now enrolled it.   
Logan moved quietly to the door, his wedding ring clicking softly against the doorknob as he walked into the hallway to go comfort his youngest son. He walked across the short hallway to Ben's room.   
Logan smiled as he thought of the interesting twist and turns his life had taken since the day he had met Max, over ten years ago. Before he was lonely, sitting in this very penthouse, hating his life even as he tried to convince himself he was happy being the rich, single Savior that was Eyes-Only. Now that he was happily married, with two children, he fully realized how much he had been missing.   
When he reached the door to his son's room, he stopped short as he absorbed the scene in front of him. A nine-year-old Maddy was whispering to the wailing Ben as she lifted him expertly out of his crib.   
"Shhhh…" Maddy whispered as she carried Ben over the rocking chair that was sitting next to the window. "Mommy and Daddy are asleep." Maddy said as she began to rock Ben, mimicking how Max rocked Ben to sleep every night.   
Logan smiled, leaning on the doorframe, watching as Maddy crooned to Ben until his wails had lessened into small whimpers.   
When arms snaked around his waist, he jumped, startled for a moment, and then relaxed as Max laid her head on his shoulder.   
They stood together, watching their children together, wondering if it was possible for their lives to get and better than the masterpiece it had turned out to be.   



End file.
